When babies or infants are growing or “cutting” new teeth, it often leads to painful gums and general discomfort. Teethers are well known devices for offering relief for babies who are cutting new teeth by providing hard or semi hard surfaces for them to bite and chew on. A variety of teether shapes and designs are known in the art.
Generally, the biting surface of known teethers is U-shaped in order to match the profile of an infant's teeth and gums. The U-shaped biting surface is inserted into the infant's mouth and a handle, flange or other formation protrudes outside the mouth for safe insertion and removal of the teether.
One known teether is the “Gummy” teether, which is described in EP 1471869, Bellett Leasing Pty Limited. The Gummy teether has a U-shape biting surface which is wider and thicker at the extremities than at the axial centre of the U-shape, in the vicinity of the infant's front teeth. Different profiles of biting surface may be provided according to different embodiments of the Gummy teether, dependent on the age of the infant and thus the extent of development of the infant's teeth.
There are various problems associated with prior art teethers. As with the Gummy teether described above, prior art teethers are often designed so that different embodiments or product types are suitable for different respective development stages, according to the teeth that are protruding through the infant's gums. For example, usually the front incisor teeth are the first teeth to appear, with teeth further back in the mouth coming later. Therefore a U-shaped teething surface with uniform thickness is only useful for very early stages of development, before the front teeth have emerged. Once the front teeth have already grown into place, it is more suitable to use a soother embodiment which is thicker towards the back of the mouth than at the front, so that the infant's ability to bite on the teether at the back of the mouth is not impeded by the front teeth that have already formed.
It will be appreciated that using several different teethers during different development stages of an infant's teeth is inconvenient and cost ineffective. Furthermore, it is difficult to select the precise profile of teether that would be appropriate for an infant at any given point of their teeth development.
The invention is set out in the claims.
Because the mouthpiece of the teether includes a substantially U-shaped biting section having a central portion, wherein at least part of said central portion is resiliently collapsible upon application of pressure thereto during use of the teether by an infant, a flexible and variable teether is provided. If the infant has already developed teeth in the front of his or her mouth, in the vicinity of the central portion during use of the teether, at least part of the central portion will collapse in order to accommodate those front teeth whilst still enabling the infant to bite down on the rear portions formed by the arms of the U-shaped biting section. Because at least part of the central portion is resiliently collapsible, it will return to its uncollapsed state when the pressure thereon is released.
By providing a hollow formation in the central portion of the mouthpiece, resilient collapsibility can be achieved. The formation will not collapse merely due to being hollow, but will require some force or pressure to be applied thereto by infant teeth or gums. Therefore the teether is effective both for very early stages of tooth development when an infant has no front teeth, and in later stages when the front teeth are partly or fully developed.
By providing a support ring between the substantially U-shaped biting section and the exterior portion of the teether, a secure method of attaching the mouthpiece to the exterior portion is achieved. This is important to ensure that the mouthpiece does not become dislodged and form a choking hazard. Furthermore, since the support ring is made form a more rigid material than the substantially U-shaped biting section, the overall robustness and safety of the teether is enhanced.
By providing a layer of flexible material forming a surface of the teether against an infant's face during use, enhanced comfort is provided. Furthermore, by providing a groove, flex channel or undulation within the flexible material, improve flexibility and accommodation of infant mouth movement is provided.
Because the U-shaped biting section may comprise a protrusion, indentation or groove on the surface thereof, enhanced massaging and comforting effects are provided for the infant's gums.
By forming the exterior portion of the teether from a relatively rigid material, a secure anchor is provided for the teether, outside the infant's mouth, which cannot be swallowed by the infant. By providing holes in the exterior portion, this rigidity and resistance to collapse is combined with the goal of safely reducing hardness against the infant's face.
Hence a user friendly, safe and flexible teether is provided, which can be used during various stages of infant development to provide relief from discomfort for teething infants.